Ricky Nelson - Ricky Nelson - Greatest Hits
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Free Music Notes for Ricky Nelson - Greatest Hits
Free Music Review: Not Comprehensive But a Great Introduction
Hit: 4 Stars
This is definitely not a comprehensive Rick Nelson collection, but if you don't own any, this is an excellent start. It only includes "Garden Party" from his later career. But it does bring together most all of his big hits from the early years, all on one collection. Great backing musicians, great songwriting, good period production, and a very distinctive voice that has influenced generations.Free Music Review: The finest greatest hits CD ever by an underated rocker!
Hit: 5 Stars
Twenty years ago on New Year's Eve 1985, we were having a party. On the TV, the face of Ricky Nelson appeared. When I turned up the sound, we had heard that he had died in a plane crash. Most of the comments from the then self-indulgent yuppies sipping their wine was, "Ricky Nelson...UGH..Garden Party?? He was a teenybopper idol, wasn't he? Big deal!" I was mortified. Well, it only goes to show how those idiot comments were made by those who were too young to appreciate his contributions to rock and roll. I quickly put on a vinyl Ricky's Greatest Hits record on the turntable real loud, to get my point across. From 1957 to 1962, Ricky had 16 top ten hits and most of them were hard-rocking. He had one of the finest guitarists in rock history, James Burton, who influenced everyone. Elvis was born poor, Rick was born rich, so he never got the credit he deserved. Read the liner notes from Bob Dylan and John Fogarty about him and you'll see that he was truly a rock and roll inspiration to those who grew up with him. This CD features all of his 25 biggest hits, including 1972's Garden Party. His best rockers (Believe What You Say, Just a Little Too Much, It's Late, I Got a Feeling, Waiting In School, Stood Up etc.) outrocked Elvis during this period. Rick may have been raised in Hollywood, but his records sound like he was influenced by Memphis' rockabilly Sun Records. His ballads were gorgeous too, (Lonesome Town, Sweeter Than You, Poor Little Fool, Teenage Idol). By the way, the sound on this CD is superb. One question, Be-Bop Baby has brushes on drums instead of sticks. It does not rock as well as the stick version, but they say this is the original disc. Overall, this is one great CD from one of rock and roll's most influentual rockers. Great Job! Free Music Review: Krusty once said it best:
Hit: 4 Stars
"Not just good, good enough."
And so we have yet ANOTHER Ricky Nelson collection that just falls short. First the songs should be in chronological order to chart the man's growth as an artist.
Secondly, the songs I would've included are "Tryin' to Get to You", "Shirley Lee" (his most intense rave up), "Rio Bravo", "I'm in Love Again" (a better Fats cover than "I'm Walkin'").
That being said this is still a solid set. If you ever wondered how in the world he got inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame pick this up to find out. The man could rock, sing, and he's one of the unsung founders of country rock.
If you'd like to dig deeper, and can find them, get 'The Best of Ricky Nelson: Legendary Masters Series Vol. 1' (EMI/1990) and 'The Best of Rick Nelson Vol. 2' (EMI/1991). These sets cover his Imperial period comprehensively (so no "Fools Rush In" which came out on Decca... d'oh!).
Free Music Review: if you love rockabilly, you've got to check this out!
Hit: 5 Stars
i didn't grow up with ricky nelson (i'm in my thirties...he was off TV and largely off the radio before I was born), but i'm a big fan of rockabilly.
i first heard "lonesome town" a few years ago, and was blown away at the atmosphere captured in the original recording. then i found out that the legendary james burton played guitar on most of these records, which got me even more interested. if you love rockabilly, you've got to get this CD. it covers all ricky's biggest hits, and the songs stand up today just as well as they did 40-50 years ago. they're just incredible pop songs, but with that "edge" of rockabilly that makes them so much more fun and interesting than the standard pop crap that was the norm back in the Fifties. Check out "Lonesome Town", "It's Late", and "Travelin Man" for a sampling of the Fifties, and "Garden Party", from the late '60s, is the predecessor to today's "Alt Country", and one of the best country/pop/alt country songs ever written. A bargain while on sale!
Free Music Review: Satisfying, But Omissions Keep It From Being Definitive
Hit: 5 Stars
Rick(y) Nelson was one of the most successful artists of the rock 'n' roll era. Just two years after his debut single (a cover of Fats Domino's "I'm Walkin'") Nelson had charted fifteen hits--and seven of them sold more than a million copies! Only Elvis sold more records.
Granted, it didn't hurt that Nelson had a national television audience with "The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet." But it obviously took more than movie idol good looks to sustain a music career that would last nearly three decades.
Many of Nelson's biggest Imperial hits featured future Rock and Roll Hall of Fame guitarist James Burton (who would become Elvis' guitarist in the Seventies). To further the Elvis connection, Nelson also frequently utilized the The Jordanaires, including on a cover of Elvis' "Have I Told You Lately That I Love You," which reached No. 29 in 1957 (but not included here). Nelson also benefited from the songwriting talents of Baker Knight ("Lonesome Town," "I Got a Feeling") and rockabilly stalwarts Johnny and Dorsey Burnette ("Believe What You Say," "Waitin' in School," "It's Late").
Even though Nelson was still a month shy of his seventeenth birthday when he debuted "I'm Walkin'" on the April 10, 1957 episode, his success was no fluke. He went on to create a body of work that included some of the earliest country/rock recordings. (Although "Garden Party" Is the only song from this era of his career; all other tracks are from 1957-1963.) Eventually Nelson would be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (1987) and the Rockabilly Hall of Fame (2003).
This latest collection is obviously intended as a memorial in that Dec. 31 will mark the twentieth anniversary of his untimely death at the age of 45. As such it does a good job of bringing together twenty-five of his thirty-six Top 40 hits. [Notable omissions are his 1964 Top Ten hit "For You" and the Bob Dylan cover "She Belongs to Me," which was a minor hit in 1970.] With a playing time of just under sixty minutes, these omissions keep this set from being definitive, but nonetheless a satisfying single-disc anthology. Those wanting more are encouraged to pick up 2000's 4-disc Legacy box set. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED